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Cross-posted from The Eclectic Educator:
In the June 22, 2007 Ridgewood News (Ridgewood, New Jersey) is an article about the math wars. It states that at the recent Board of Education Meeting, an executive board member of the Association of Math Teachers and a consultant to the Ridgewood Public Schools went to the microphone.
Barbara VanDenBerg, says the article, "fired off a string of credentials as a math expert in support of reform math."
And this is what she said:
"Balance is by far the most important thing. Because we're all so diversified, we all can't be the disciplined mathematicians...that's just not reality."
If this is not an admission that reform math is dumbed down, I don't know what is.
14 comments:
"Balance is by far the most important thing. Because we're all so diversified, we all can't be the disciplined mathematicians...that's just not reality."
I mentioned before that I was seeing this at my son's school. When they talk of balance, they don't really mean a balance of skills versus understanding. They mean a balance between what is best for the "math brains" and what is best for the rest.
This has nothing to do with reform math being better than Singapore Math. Nobody in their right mind would dare to argue that. At best, they will argue that Singapore Math doesn't cover all of the topics required by the state standards.
The curriculum head at my son's school talked about different types of learners, which means that she thinks they have to dumb down the math for many kids. Understanding means slowing down the pace and lowering expectations. To them, the problem is NOT that they are doing a poor job or that the curriculum is lousy. The problem is that they have to think about what they can do for the (few) more advanced kids.
Different learning styles is just another way to say low expectations. Schools can't tell the difference between doing a really lousy job and different learning styles.
"Because we're all so diversified, we all can't be the disciplined mathematicians..."
Yeah, who could expect math teachers to be disciplined mathematicians. That's just not reality.
I have a suggestion: How about if we diversify bridge engineers in New Jersey. I mean, why should we expect bridges to be designed by people who understand civil engineering? That's just not realistic.
It bothers me that Ms. VanDenBerg is implying that reform math is better for weak students. It's NOT. My child has a learning disability in math; I would be delighted if our district dumped Everyday Math and replaced it with Singapore Math.
Singapore Math isn't perfect and would have to be supplemented for my child. But it would be dramatically better than EM. It provides clear explanations and lots of practice. That's what weak students need.
oh boy, did you wave the red flag!
Steve has been writing about BALANCE for two years!
It bothers me that Ms. VanDenBerg is implying that reform math is better for weak students. It's NOT
Interesting.
One of the people who posts on ktm has a gifted child who does fine with TERC. TERC is all wrong for him; he should be far beyond grade level no matter what the curriculum.
But he does better with TERC than the non-gifted kids.
you can see her speak here
clips from Ridgewood
page down ... she's one of the three educrats
"One of the people who posts on ktm has a gifted child who does fine with TERC."
My son is an A+ (just got the report card today) Everyday Math student. This doesn't make me happy. It actually makes it harder for me to convince him that he has a lot more work to do just to get to grade level in Singapore Math.
Same here. Report card came yesterday and my Everyday Math fifth grader got an "O" (outstanding) in math every quarter this year, made the Math Masters competitive team, etc.
And I am homeschooling him this summer so that he can catch up enough to hopefully (fingers crossed) qualify for the higher 6th grade track in the charter school he will attend next year. Like you, Steve, we're leaving the private school, too.
"It bothers me that Ms. VanDenBerg is implying that reform math is better for weak students."
It made me sick to watch her talk. So glib. She is really on-board the reform math bus.
There is, however, a fundamental flaw. They can't have it both ways. They can't claim that reform math is better for the lower end of the "triangle" (the non-elite) and then say that reform math "substantially raises levels of math thinking and reasoning ... and long term retention". It's appears that it is a magic product. One that is best for the slower learners and is better for math thinking and reasoning.
The other flaw is that all reform math curricula are the same. Some are much worse than others. Then there are huge implementation differences.
Ridgewood will never get anywhere arguing on an abstract level. You have to look at the daily lessons side-by-side. As I (finally!) realized with my son's EM class this year, there is no guarantee that anything will get done. About a third of the material was skipped because they ran out of time.
Balance is by far the most important thing.
Does she complain to her doctor if the doctor doesn't balance antibiotics with bleeding?
My son is an A+ (just got the report card today) Everyday Math student. This doesn't make me happy. It actually makes it harder for me to convince him that he has a lot more work to do just to get to grade level in Singapore Math.
hoo boy
One day last winter Christopher and I were walking the dogs & we got to talking about where his latest testing fiasco in Ms. K's class probably put him vis a vis his peers in other countries.
I think we figured that in Singapore he'd be developmentally disabled.
You have to look at the daily lessons side-by-side. As I (finally!) realized with my son's EM class this year, there is no guarantee that anything will get done. About a third of the material was skipped because they ran out of time.
The whole EM & TERC situation just gets worse and worse.
Does she complain to her doctor if the doctor doesn't balance antibiotics with bleeding?
Naturally I'm planning to use this line at the first opportunity.
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